Gameweek 7 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL) brought European football to the January calendar for the first time, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Fans were treated to an exhilarating display of end-to-end football, with feisty comeback victories and usual suspects securing their wins. It also made the first stage table more chaotic, with the last Gameweek, to be played next week, set to see most teams looking to end in top eight or make the playoffs.
Let’s take a look at all the action from the UCL Gameweek 7.
Monaco secured a narrow win over Aston Villa at the Stade Louis II.
Monaco dominated the early passage of play and scored inside eight minutes. From a corner given to the hosts, Thilo Kehrer’s initial header was parried off by Emi Martínez, but the Argentina international could do nothing about the rebound which was pounced on by Wilfried Singo and headed home. On the other end, Radoslaw Majecki made sure the lead remained intact heading into the break by saving shots from Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey.
The start of the second half saw chances for both sides, with Villa’s Morgan Rogers firing just wide while Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche had an effort ruled out for offside. Villa boss Unai Emery introduced striker Jhon Durán to threaten the Monaco goal, but their solid defensive backline held on to their one-goal lead and secured a vital three points.
Aston Villa were dealt a massive blow as a win would have helped them in their chase of direct knockouts qualification. With Celtic coming to town next week, their top-eight finish looks in jeopardy.
The defending Europa league winners produced a five-star performance against Sturm Graz in Bergamo.
Sturm Graz had an early chance to take the lead when forward Amady Camara narrowly missed the target after latching onto a long ball. But it was all Atalanta after that. In the 12th minute, Charles De Ketelaere’s cross from the right was poorly cleared by the opposition defence and landed at the feet of Lazar Samardžic on the edge of the box. The Atalanta midfielder found Davide Zappacosta with a precise low pass, who then squared the ball to Mateo Retegui, and the Argentine netted to give Atalanta the lead. The Bergamaschi went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
De Ketelaere thought he had doubled the advantage for Atalanta early in the second half, but his close-range strike was chalked off for offside in the buildup. The hosts controlled the possession and Juan Cuadrado hit the post minutes later before substitute Ademola Lookman was denied twice by Sturm goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen. Atalanta weren’t to be denied again, though, and Mario Pašalic doubled the lead in the 58th minute with a shot into the roof of the net, converting a teasing cross from Cuadrado, before De Ketelaere added the third five minutes later. The visitors had no response to the Atalanta attack as they continued to pile more misery on the Austrian Bundesliga champions. De Ketelaere then turned provider for Lookman in stoppage time as the latter headed home. Atalanta completed the demolition deep in stoppage time as Marco Brescianini prodded home from close range after Lookman fizzed past the Sturm defence to pass to the Italian forward in the box.
After this win, Atalanta sit comfortably in fourth spot in the table, while Sturm Graz languish in the bottom five with no chance left for qualification to the Round of 16.
Atleti forward Julián Alvarez’s inspired performance propelled his 10-man side to come back and secure a massive three-point haul against the German Bundesliga champions.
The visitors started brightly against the hosts and created opportunities for goals in the early period. Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak thwarted efforts from Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella; the latter also had a goal ruled out for offside. Things got tricky for the hosts when Pablo Barrios was sent off for his studs-up challenge from behind on Jeremie Frimpong in the 23rd minute. With the numerical advantage, the visitors bombed forward with intent, and just when it seemed Atleti had done enough to thwart the visitors, Piero Hincapié headed in at the near post courtesy of a Nordi Mukiele cross from the right.
The hosts emerged in the second half with changed tactics; soon after the restart, they were level. On the counter, Antoine Griezmann launched a long ball forward, which Alvarez latched onto and, even with pressure from Alejandro Grimaldo, kept his composure and slotted home in the 52nd minute. Buoyed by a noisy Metropolitano, the hosts defended stoutly. Hincapié was then sent off in the 76th minute for a second yellow-card offence. With both teams down to ten, Atleti’s winner came in the 90th minute from another long-ball pass that caused problems for Edmond Tapsoba: Alvarez took advantage and slotted home past keeper Matej Kovár in front of a delirious home crowd.
Leverkusen will now have to wait for their next game to ensure top-eight qualification, while Atlético Madrid sit in third place in the table.
Lille suffered their first defeat of this Champions League season at Anfield.
Liverpool found it hard to break a well-disciplined Lille defence in the early stages but continued to attack. The visitors had a blistering start, with their attempt on goal coming inside the first minute. However, the home side controlled proceedings from thereon and reaped their reward in the 34th minute as Mohamed Salah netted his 50th European goal for Liverpool, latching onto a long pass from Curtis Jones after Kostas Tsimikas won the ball inside Liverpool’s half before curling a shot around the Lille goalkeeper, Lucas Chevalier. Salah had another glorious opportunity to double the lead before the break when he brought down Luis Díaz’s long cross-field pass, shrugged off a Lille defender, but pulled his shot agonisingly wide to the dismay of the home crowd.
The second half started in the same vein, and just before the hour mark Lille’s evening got worse as defender Aïssa Mandi’s foul on Díaz got him sent off with a second yellow card. Lille were down to ten, but three minutes later they restored parity as Jonathan David pounced on a poor clearance from Tsimikas inside the box. Liverpool quickly regained the lead, though, when a corner was headed out to the edge of the box and Harvey Elliott fired a first-time shot that took a big deflection into the net in the 67th minute. Darwin Núñez thought he had scored Liverpool’s third just before added time when he tapped home from a rebound off a Federico Chiesa shot, but he was offside and the goal was chalked off. The game ended in a 2-1 win for Liverpool.
Liverpool lead the Champions League table with 21 points, having won all of their seven games, while Lille are in 11th place and will have to win their last game to get into the top eight.
Luuk de Jong’s brace helped a 10-man PSV win a nervy game away to Red Star Belgrade at a freezing Stadion Rajko Mitic.
The visitors started with intent early on and got the opener in the 17th minute from De Jong’s header from an out-swinging Joey Veerman’s corner. Six minutes later, PSV got another corner, and the result was the same as De Jong powered another header from a Veerman corner kick. The scintillating first-half display from the visitors continued as they scored a third before half-time—another corner kick, and Red Star could only clear the ball till the edge of the box before PSV defender Ryan Flamingo volleyed a thunderous strike into the net.
However, Flamingo’s joy soon turned sour when he received a straight red card five minutes into the second period after he brought down Nemanja Radonjic on the edge of the box as the last defender. Red Star felt they had a chance with the numerical advantage, and they pulled two goals back as Cherif Ndiaye and Nasser Djiga scored with headers in the 71st and 77nd minutes, respectively, to induce a nervy finish. Despite heavy pressure in the closing minutes, however, they couldn’t find an equaliser as PSV held on to all three points.
With this win, PSV Eindhoven have moved into 16th place, while Red Star are more or less out of the competition.
This was one of the most entertaining fixtures of the Champions League so far: a nine-game thriller where Barcelona showed great fighting spirit and mental resilience to come back and beat Benfica in the dying stages of the game.
Benfica made a blistering start to the game as left-back Álvaro Carreras crossed for Vangelos Pavlidis in the box to finish for the opening goal inside two minutes. They almost had another a few minutes later, but it was Barça who scored in the 13th minute to tie up the match. Tomás Araújo fouled Alejandro Balde in the area, and Robert Lewandowski stepped up to dispatch the penalty to restore parity. Pavlidis then bagged another in the 22nd minute when Wojciech Szczesny rushed out to kick away the long forward ball but collided with his own player, Balde. Pavlidis then pounced on the loose ball and tucked it in an open net. Benfica stretched their lead to two goals as Pavlidis completed his hattrick from a spot-kick in the 30th minute when Muhammed Kerem Aktürkoglu was fouled by Szczesny in the box. It looked like Benfica had run away with the game as the two teams went into the break.
However, football and its unpredictable nature surprised us again. Barça’s comeback started with an error from the Benfica goalie, Anatoliy Trubin, whose attempted long pass went straight to Raphinha, who headed from outside the box. This invigorated the away side, but Benfica scored again just three minutes later to extend the lead to 4-2. It was through Ronald Araújo, who diverted a cross from the left into his own goal when trying to clear the danger. However, undeterred, Barcelona kept going on and soon scored from an Eric García far-post header from a teasing Pedri cross to make it 4-3. Lewandowski converted another penalty to make it 4-4 after Carreras had seemingly bundled over Lamine Yamal in the 77th minute. With the heavy rain beating down in Lisbon and the nerves being stretched to breaking point, Barcelona conjured up a dramatic late winner from Raphinha on the counter-attack, winning the game in incredible fashion. Benfica had Arthur Cabral sent off in deep in stoppage time for his reaction to a penalty not given to his side after he cried foul in the box.
Barcelona made it to the Round of 16 with this win, but their defensive issues might worry coach Hansi Flick. Benfica, on the other hand, really pushed them with their attacking prowess, only losing the game in the closing stages.
Juventus were held to a goalless draw in a lacklustre contest against the Belgium champions on Tuesday. The two sides started off cautiously and had only one attempt each in a dull first half, both the shots off target.
The tempo got better after the restart and Club Brugge produced their best chance to break the deadlock through forward Ferran Jutglà, who nutmegged Juve defender Pierre Kalulu before his low shot went just wide of the left post. Thiago Motta introduced fresh legs in the 66th minute, with substitutes Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yildiz coming on. However, nothing much changed in terms of overall play, and while Juventus had more possession, they didn’t have many clear-cut chances. Club Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet stretched to deny midfielder Manuel Locatelli from distance late on as the game ended in a draw.
Juventus have now drawn over half of their 30 games in all competitions this season and are 14th in the UCL table with 12 points, while Club Brugge are in 17th place with 11 points.
Stuttgart earned three massive points away from home beating Slovan Bratislava, bolstering their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
Stuttgart opened the scoring in the 11th minute as captain Denis Undav squared to winger Jamie Leweling to find the net. Leweling scored his second in the 36th minute as he caught on a loose ball from an Enzo Millot shot that was parried off by the opposition goalkeeper, Dominik Takác. Bratislava didn’t put much effort on the other goal and went into the break two goals down.
In the second half, it was the visitors again who dominated possession and looked comfortable on the ball. The hosts brought on changes, and in the 85th minute they pulled one back when Idjessi Medsoko outpaced the Stuttgart defence to prod home. The atmosphere got nervous for the visitors as the home fans urged their side to get another goal, but two minutes later Stuttgart restored their two-goal lead through substitute Fabian Rieder and killed any hopes of a comeback.
This was a massive win for Stuttgart, who have now given themselves a huge boost for a playoff spot as opposed to their opponents, who are in the bottom two with 0 points on board.
A defensively woeful Dortmund lost to Bologna, conceding two goals within a minute to give away their first-half lead.
The visitors made a good start, taking the lead through Serhou Guirassy, who converted a penalty in the 15th minute after Emil Holm’s foul on Waldemar Anton. Dortmund looked to be in complete control of the game and heading towards the brink of automatic qualification to the Round of 16 as the two teams went into the break with a one-goal advantage for the visitors.
However, BVB eased off after the break, giving Bologna a chance to get back in the game, which they did in a manic one-minute period after the 70th minute. The equaliser came from substitute Thijs Dallinga, who slotted home on the counterattack. Before the Dortmund defence had time to recover, the Italian side struck again with another quick move as a deep cross from Charalampos Lykogiannis landed to Samuel Iling-Junior, who finished off to turn the game around. With the Dortmund defence looking even more shaky, Bologna could have added at least two more goals with a couple of great chances, including that of Jens Odgaard.
This is Dortmund’s fourth straight loss in all competitions, and Nuri Sahin has been shown the exit door as the defensive woes continue.
Also read: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Sponsors
Shakhtar Donetsk kept their slim Champions League knockout hopes alive as they secured a vital 2-0 home win over Brest on Wednesday.
Although a huge goal swing may still be required, goals from Kevin and Georgiy Sudakov ensured they kept their hopes alive in the competition.
Kevin pounced on a costly slip from Brest captain Brendan Chardonnet eighteen minutes into the game to race away and score, with goalkeeper Marco Bizot then making a series of impressive saves before conceding a penalty late into the first half that Sudakov chipped into the net.
Shakhtar dug in during the second half and were able to keep Brest at bay, with the Ligue 1 outfit failing to make anything of their lion share of possession and letting a huge opportunity to climb into the top eight slip through their grasp.
Brest must now get a result at home to Real Madrid if they are to improbably avoid the playoff round that Shakhtar are so desperate to reach.
RB Leipzig fought back against Sporting 2-1 on Wednesday night to earn their first victory in seven Champions League matches and dent their opponents’ hopes of a top-eight finish.
The German Bundesliga side took a deserved lead when Benjamin Šeško slid in to connect with a perfectly-timed David Raum cutback in the 19th minute. Raum then had a goal of his own disallowed before Amadou Haidara saw a low drive bounce off the post in the second half.
With Sporting needing an away win to draw level on points with teams in the top eight, Viktor Gyökeres beat Willi Orban and drilled in an equaliser with 15 minutes to play. But the visitors were on the back foot again three minutes later when Yussuf Poulsen scrambled the ball over the line.
The defeat leaves Sporting on 10 points in 19th place ahead of next week’s final round.
Celtic secured Champions League progression with a Young Boys own-goal on a night of disallowed goals, missed penalties, and red-card drama at Parkhead.
Kyogo Furuhashi thought he had given his side the dream start only for his strike to be ruled out for offside. Callum McGregor’s foul saw the Japan striker denied again before he had a third goal ruled out, again for offside. Luck wasn’t on Celtic’s side, with Arne Engels’s poor penalty easily saved after Greg Taylor was brought down in the box before half-time.
Auston Trusty then struck the bar before Kasper Schmeichel produced a brilliant double save to deny Young Boys, but their fortunes turned when Loris Benito turned Adam Idah’s ball into his own net to spark wild celebrations. Celtic had Daizen Maeda sent off for a late, pointless challenge as they progressed to the knockout stages with a game to spare.
Lautaro Martínez’s first-half strike sealed a 1-0 win for Inter over Sparta Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday, keeping them on course for a top-eight spot.
Martínez volleyed home at the back post from the tightest of angles in the 12th minute, connecting with Alessandro Bastoni’s cross. The home side, who are now out of contention for a playoff place, offered little in the way of a goal threat, falling to a fifth consecutive defeat in the competition.
Despite Sparta’s second-half improvement, they almost let in another goal as Denzel Dumfries neatly tucked the ball into the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for offside following a VAR review.
After keeping their sixth clean sheet in the competition, Inter can confidently go into their final fixture looking to seal a Round of 16 place at home to Monaco next week.
Milan climbed into the top-eight places for the first time as they beat Girona 1-0 at San Siro on Wednesday night.
The only goal of the game came late in the first half through Rafael Leão as he showed one of the few bits of composure in the game, collecting a pass from Ismaël Bennacer and hammering a shot into the roof of the net from inside the box.
Girona certainly had their moments to get level in the game, but Milan too missed chances to make it an easier evening for themselves.
The result means a fifth consecutive win in the Champions League for the Rossoneri and sixth spot in the table. It is likely a draw against Dinamo Zagreb will be enough to seal direct qualification for the last 16. The visitors, on the other hand, finally have their fate sealed following the defeat with just one win in seven games.
Feyenoord striker Santiago Giménez scored twice in the first half to steer the hosts to a stunning 3-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday and boost their chances of a top-eight finish.
The Mexico international gave them the lead in the 21st minute with a deft shot before adding a second goal with a penalty in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Substitute Ayase Ueda killed off the game in the 89th minute after Feyenoord keeper Justin Bijlow had denied the Bavarians with a string of strong saves.
With one matchday remaining, Feyenoord have climbed above Bayern into 11th place on 13 points. The Bavarians have dropped to 15th place on 12 points with their third defeat in seven matches.
Kai Havertz set one up then scored himself as Arsenal all but sealed their spot in the Champions League last 16 with a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Rice’s second minute strike—his first Champions League goal—from Havertz’s lay-off provided the perfect start for Arsenal on the way to three points, as the Gunners dominated a game in which they would not concede a single shot on target.
Arsenal should have put more in the Dinamo net in the first half, but just as the Emirates was getting nervous due to the one-goal buffer, Havertz headed home a wicked delivery from Gabriel Martinelli to double the advantage.
With the game going into stoppage time, substitute Leandro Trossard’s cross found Martin Ødegaard to tap home from close range. This was the Arsenal captain’s first goal from open play for club or country since last April.
The Gunners now sit three points—and with a healthy goal difference buffer—ahead of ninth-placed Aston Villa in the Champions League table with one game remaining, which means they are set to skip February’s playoff round and will resume the competition in March.
Paris Saint-Germain completed a stunning comeback to beat Manchester City 4-2, with Pep Guardiola’s side plummeting out of the Champions League knockout places. City find themselves two points adrift of 24th-placed Stuttgart, with their European future now hanging in the balance ahead of their final first-stage fixture against Club Brugge on January 29.
Second-half goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland looked to have put Guardiola’s men in the driving seat, but their defensive shortcomings were exploited yet again as they collapsed at the Parc des Princes.
Eleven minutes of pulsating action saw four goals fly in—with Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola drawing the hosts level—before the comeback was completed by João Neves, who raced onto a cross at the back post to give his team a late lead. Gonçalo Ramos adding a fourth in stoppage time only added insult to injury.
Real Madrid’s hopes of defending their Champions League title received a huge boost with a comfortable 5-1 win to eliminate Red Bull Salzburg.
After losing three of their opening six games, Los Blancos looked more like their usual selves as they dispatched the Austrians with a first-half double from Rodrygo, before a goal from Kylian Mbappé and two from Vinícius Jr completed the rout.
This win and results elsewhere guarantee the defending UCL champions at least a playoff spot. They are one point off the automatic qualification places and visit Brest on the final matchday next week.
Salzburg, whose only consolation was a late Mads Bidstrup volley, have lost six of their seven games and are out of the Champions League.
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